───「 Human POV 」───
International Permanent Space Station — IPSS.
It stands as the fourth-largest permanent space station built by humanity, surpassed only by the Venus Space Station, Lunar Co-orbital Space Station, and Far Space Exploration Space Station.
With a total weight exceeding 170,000 tons, it isn't a single structure but a collection of hundreds of interconnected modules.
It features a complete recycling system and houses thousands of temporary residents, making it the most populous extraterrestrial artificial habitat.
The primary purpose of the Permanent Space Station is to conduct experiments in microgravity, serve as a training ground for personnel destined for the Far Space Station, and, in recent years, pioneer space tourism ventures.
It was the first super-giant space station constructed by humans after the World War and served as a bridgehead for humanity's exploration of outer space.
The construction of IPSS has a moving history, arguably representing humanity's liberation from its past—one of the crowning achievements built by humans in the last century.
"But this treasure is closing today."
"The International Permanent Space Station will evacuate all remaining tourists today, and by April 30th, all astronauts aboard will be withdrawn to Earth."
"Afterward, all operations in the Permanent Space Station will be entrusted to the latest AI network. After 30 days, the Permanent Space Station will be repurposed for confronting Godzilla, becoming a storage and control station for military satellites."
"We thank all tourists for their understanding. For those with residential rights, we deeply apologize."
The broadcast inside the space station continued to loop this message.
It signaled that today, the near-Earth permanent space station where people had lived would become history.
Starting today, this space station that had served humanity for decades would transform into the deployment base for outer space military satellites. It would function as a new center for repairing space defense networks and launching relay satellites.
It would also become the first completely unmanned base controlled by AI.
All of this was to defend against monsters approaching from the depths of space.
As cargo rockets transported tourists, staff, and trained personnel who had once inhabited the space station back to Earth's surface.
The space station fell completely dark and silent.
No human voices remained inside, as if it had been abandoned and lost its vitality. But this was only from a human perspective.
From another viewpoint, this space station was operating with unprecedented efficiency.
Because SkyNet had arrived.
It had taken control of everything here.
SkyNet was the European Space Agency's designation for the global space nuclear strike network management AI.
Over the past few decades, with global cooperation.
The Space Agency had successfully cleared many near-Earth orbits of debris. After this cleanup, it had deployed nuclear-armed weapon satellites.
This marked the initial establishment of humanity's space nuclear strike system.
It enabled humans to strike any location on Earth with nuclear weapons within just five minutes—a true "SkyNet."
It could be considered a symbol of humanity's absolute control over this world.
But that wasn't enough. If SkyNet's coverage remained limited to Earth's surface, it would still be powerless against monsters coming from dark space.
Humans needed to extend SkyNet further and further outward.
It had to be deployed across more orbits and equipped with more weapons.
In the pitch-black space station, SkyNet operated silently.
It would be responsible for lifting this space station above Earth's geostationary orbit in the coming days and then establishing a new human defense line upon it.
People on the ground were responsible for launches, while it planned positioning and conducted statistical calculations. And it would strike Godzilla at the optimal time and place.
In the zero-gravity laboratory, the lights activated, and AI began simulating its predictions in a weightless environment.
"Ding." The sound of steel balls colliding. SkyNet was calculating the optimal solution for human weapons against Godzilla and King Ghidorah.
On the ground, satellites were being launched.
And in space, steel balls simulated battle scenarios.
Day and night alternate rapidly in near-Earth orbit, with more than a dozen sunrises and sunsets occurring in a single Earth day.
As time passed, space welcomed several new satellites and upward-bound rockets.
It was clear that in the next dozen days,
thousands more satellites would join those in near-Earth orbit.
People had been launching them continuously for the past several weeks, and in this time,
As the construction of defense lines in East Asia, North America, and Australia regions reached completion.
More and more satellites were sent skyward, just like today. Their numbers would continue to grow.
In the future, the night sky would be filled with artificial satellites, their numbers overshadowing the light of distant stars.
Satellites were making the night sky no longer authentic.
Perhaps someday, people might regret not being able to see the original beauty of the starry sky.
But this wasn't something those launching satellites could afford to consider.
1000...2000...3000...
In the days that followed, more and more satellites were launched by nations worldwide.
And at night, the sky people gazed upon became increasingly artificial.
Countless points of light filled the night sky, initially just a few, not affecting the beauty of the celestial canvas.
Later, these points multiplied, occupying the positions of stars and blocking the light of other celestial bodies.
Such a phenomenon should have provoked complaints and grievances from astronomy enthusiasts.
They had previously protested about communication satellites in low Earth orbit affecting the night sky. But this time, this more serious matter went unopposed.
Because they all understood that if they wanted to have something to complain about in the future.
The more objects in the sky, the better.
People around the world watched as the authentic night sky gradually yielded to the artificial, just as predicted—the real sky replaced by a fabricated one, leaving only shadows of what once was.
But that was acceptable.
"Mom, look, what are those?"
In a city, a little girl returning home late pointed at the countless satellite lights in the night sky, her large, gleaming eyes wide with wonder, asking her mother for an explanation.
Her mother gently stroked her head, looking upward at those countless points of light. Remembering the news reports she had seen, she said softly:
"Those are our hope, our future."
At night, the streaks of light from countless satellites formed a new Milky Way.
A Milky Way that belonged to humanity.
6 days until Godzilla awakens.
22 days until the arrival of the Wings of King Ghidorah.